There are plenty of reasons to eat a healthy breakfast every morning. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gives you the energy and focuses to get through whatever life has in store for you. Eating breakfast also helps you to stay trim and to maintain a healthy weight. That’s at least partly because when you start out your day with a good meal, you’re more likely to make healthy meal choices all day. While many people eat the same breakfast every day, new breakfast ideas can help keep things interesting.
It’s easy to make a healthy breakfast part of your daily routine, but it helps to plan. It’s a good idea to vary the menu throughout the week, though the basic components remain the same: a mixture of carbs and proteins to power you up and keep you going all day. There are many foods you can eat to get your morning carbs and proteins. Typical breakfast choices are cereals like oatmeal, toast, fruit, milk, and yogurt. Just keeping these items handy in your kitchen will make it easier to get the food you need to keep you at your best all day.
Why Have Breakfast?
Without healthy breakfast ideas, it’s easy to skip breakfast or just make do with a cup of coffee on your way out the door. But that’s a big mistake because breakfast is an important meal. It provides you the carbs and proteins to power up your brain and your body and to keep them going all day. Eating breakfast also helps you to stay trim and healthy and to maintain an ideal weight. With the right breakfast ideas, a healthy breakfast can help you slim down in no time.
When you wake up in the morning, your body is low in sugar. Breakfast helps to kick-start your day and to perform better all day. The benefits of eating breakfast regularly include greater mental alertness and focus, better memory and improved overall performance. It’s important for children too, and studies show that children who regularly eat a healthy breakfast are likely to score better in tests and less likely to miss school. If your kids don’t like to eat in the morning, give them a portable breakfast, like an egg muffin or granola bar to eat at the bus stop.
A Healthy Breakfast Keeps You Going All Day
Eating breakfast also means you’re less likely to make bad food choices during the day. This helps you to stay trim and healthy. In fact, studies have shown a connection between skipping breakfast and being overweight. Typical breakfast foods power you through the day, making you less likely to reach for fattening and unhealthy foods like those donuts in the lunchroom or ice cream while watching television.
Eating breakfast jump-starts your metabolism every morning. And if you skip breakfast, your body slows down, because it’s going into conservation mode. That also decreases the amount of energy you can draw upon because your body is trying to do more with less.
Benefits of Healthy Breakfast Ideas
There are many health benefits to starting your day with breakfast. These include better mental performance, memory and concentration, lower levels of bad cholesterol, and a lower likelihood of diseases like diabetes, heart disease. People who eat breakfast regularly are also less likely to be overweight.
That’s because breakfast moves your body and mind into a higher gear, kick-starting your metabolism. It helps your body to shift from fasting to active mode, and to do this, it needs the blood sugar that your muscles and brain use. This is why the best food combination for breakfast is carbs and proteins. The carbs get you started, and the proteins keep you going.
On the other hand, if you skip breakfast, your body is short on energy all day and by afternoon you’ll be reaching for unhealthy, sugary snacks or drinks to keep going. In fact, skipping breakfast is almost a guarantee you will overeat later in the day. This is why one health benefit of breakfast is that it helps to keep you trim and your waistline in check.
A Trimmer Waistline
Studies have found that people who eat breakfast tend to be slimmer than those who don’t. There are several reasons for this. Eating breakfast discourages unhealthy food choices later in the day. The protein and fiber found in breakfast also keep you feeling full all day and prevent you from overeating. With higher energy levels, you tend to stay more active throughout the day. This also helps you to stay fit and trim.
Getting Your Vitamins and Minerals
Healthy breakfast foods contain many of the vitamins and minerals necessary for your health and well being. Breakfast cereals, milk, and yogurt are often fortified with to provide your daily intake of vitamins B and E, and minerals like iron, magnesium, zinc, and calcium.
Control and Stabilize Your Blood Sugar
Breakfast helps to keep your blood sugar levels steady all day. This is important whether or not you have diabetes. For people who have diabetes, eating breakfast can prevent hypoglycemia or low blood sugar levels. This can be a dangerous condition, leading to serious problems like seizures or an irregular heartbeat. For others, it can help to prevent the problem of insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes.
Maintain a Healthy Heart
Breakfast is good for your heart. According to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2017, skipping breakfast can lead to atherosclerosis. That's a condition when the buildup of plaque narrows and hardens the arteries, leading to a risk of heart attack and stroke. People who skip breakfast were also more likely to have higher levels of blood pressure and cholesterol.
Healthy Breakfast Ideas & Tips
Now that you’re ready to start eating a healthy breakfast we come to the fun part: planning your menu. It’s a good idea to think and ahead and shop with a list of breakfast choices in mind. That way you’ll always have something in the fridge that you can grab as you go through your morning routine. This is another case where a bit of preparation can produce big results.
Plan Ahead
So how much protein do you need in the morning? For adults, about 20-30 grams of protein in the morning is recommended. This may vary by gender and level of activity. To give you an idea, this is about a single serving of Greek yogurt (6- to 8-ounces) with some seeds like chia or flaxseed sprinkled on, or a scrambled egg with turkey sausage.
The proteins also keep you feeling full, making you less likely to overeat during the day. For carbs, you can rely on whole grain cereals or bread, fruit and veggies. Milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts, and seeds deliver the proteins to power you through the day.
Why Are Low GI Foods Good for You?
Nutritionists also recommend low GI (glycaemic index) foods like wholegrain cereals or bread, milk, yogurt, and eggs. The GI of a food is the speed at which blood sugar levels rise and fall after eating. Food with a low GI is digested and absorbed slowly, which means that it also releases energy more slowly and steadily. This helps to fuel you for a longer time. It also helps to improve your mental performance.
5 Easy Healthy Breakfast Ideas
It’s easier to grab a healthy breakfast on a busy morning if you keep some core foods handy in your fridge or pantry. These could include wholegrain cereals or bread, fruit and vegetables, eggs and dairy products like milk or yogurt. Whole grains are a good source of fiber, and also contain other nutrients like vitamins B and E, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium. With these guidelines in mind, here are some typical healthy breakfast choices you can add to your weekly routine. They use easily accessible ingredients, which will give you all the basic carbs and proteins you need.
1. Cereal like oatmeal, muesli or granola and sliced bananas with milk. You can add or substitute any other fruit like peaches, apples, and berries. Add a touch of cinnamon in the cooler months to perk you up as you head out the door.
2. Scrambled eggs with whole-wheat toast. Add a slice of avocado or a tomato. A small glass of fruit juice rounds out the meal and you can bring your latte to go.
3. Breakfast smoothie with fruit, yogurt and cereal or seeds. For taste and convenience, this can’t be beaten. Use honey or maple syrup for sweetness.
4. Fruit with toast and peanut butter. Raspberries are especially good at delivering the fiber your body needs.
5. Yogurt or cottage cheese with fruit, with nuts or seeds added for even more protein.
Breakfast Ideas - The Conclusion
A healthy breakfast can help you tackle everything that your day brings. There are many benefits to eating breakfast regularly. It can help you maintain a steady and healthy weight, control your blood sugar, and even lower the risk of heart disease. People who eat breakfast regularly have more mental focus and concentration, and more physical energy. With just a little planning and some basic ingredients, you can beat the clock and get a healthy start every morning.